Hoboken doctors return from altruistic mission trip to Haiti

Dr. Carmelo MilazzoTwo HUMC doctors spent one week in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, setting up clinics and pharmacies and tending to hundreds of victims of the tragic earthquake.

Two Hoboken University Medical Center doctors arrived in the United States on Sunday afternoon following a courageous mission to Haiti. Dr. Carmelo Milazzo, president-elect of the Hudson County Medical Society, and Dr. Benetta Miller spent one week providing medical attention and establishing clinics and pharmacies in the decrepit neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince.

The magnitude 7.0 earthquake that hit the country in January caused tragic destruction and an escalating death toll of more than 200,000.

On Sun., Jan. 30, the doctors took a three-and-a-half-hour flight to Santo Domingo and then a seven-hour drive from Santo Domingo to Haiti. The group left Santo Domingo at midnight and crossed into Haiti at sunrise since the gates to enter are only open from sunrise to sunset.

They met with other doctors affiliated with Guardians of Healing, a 1,000-member organization based in Fairview, N.J., that seeks to heal those who are less fortunate.

According to a news release, HUMC employees contributed a combined $3,000 for the trip.The HUMC Foundation matched employee donations, totaling contributions at $6,000 for the Haitian relief effort.

Each day in Haiti, Milazzo, Miller and a team of 30 doctors – ranging from pediatricians to surgeons – traveled by bus to a neighborhood in Port-au-Prince in set up a clinic and pharmacy. They were presented with 300-500 patients in need of antibiotics, minor surgery or the dressing of a wound. In total, three clinics were established by the end of the week.

“We were told people had received no help for three weeks,” Miller said. “They were incredibly dehydrated.”

The doctors and a group of translators of English into Creole (and vice versa) slept in a compound that had been previously used as a church.

Milazzo's biggest grievance was that there was no coordination at all, and the city lacked central organization.

Milazzo and Miller said their group had no security at all, but it was very safe. The most prominent hazard was the endless traffic coupled with air pollution. They used masks while traveling to ward off heavy dust and the smell of the dead. Everything runs on diesel, but they have no anti-pollution system, Milazzo said.

It took three hours to travel a mere five miles via bus – from the mission to the compound – though they spotted Anderson Cooper reporting at the airport once, Miller said.

“The pollution is so bad I don’t know that anyone can work there more than two weeks at a time,” Milazzo said.

Milazzo said an elderly woman in distress had a stroke and he helped to revive her, but the hospital told him she was too old to be taken to a rehabilitation center afterward.

“Most of the time, you say no, because you have nothing that would help them,” Milazzo said.

They said they encountered no hostility from anyone, and the U.S. Army worked diligently at distributing food to the victims.

Milazzo said he was highly surprised that the Haitians were so used to a disaster like this, and there was very little hysteria at this point.

“The people are so used to the horrible conditions that they adapted to the conditions,” Milazzo said.

Miller said she was saddened to know there are so many people who need help and she can only help a small amount. Ultimately, it was very depressing, terrible situation, Milazzo said, but a productive mission if only in a small scope.

But that won’t stop them from going back. The doctors are in talks with Haitian American Charitable Alliance, Inc., which is having a mission on the border of Dominican Republic in the next few months. There is a growing population of refugees there in need of medical attention, Milazzo said.

“It’s not a war zone, which is a common misconception,” Milazzo said. “It’s a disaster zone. There’s no fighting at all. These people were suffering.”

Dr. Carmelo MilazzoTwo HUMC doctors spent one week in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, setting up clinics and pharmacies and tending to hundreds of victims of the tragic earthquake.